Focus on people and issues
Ministry adapts to change
By TINA BORAK
Kansan Staff Writer
The institutional church in America is in a state of turmoil as it struggles to adapt to society's changing needs.
To better meet the needs of KU students, the campus ministry at KU, too, is changing its structure, expanding its theory of the focus of ministry.
Robert Shelton, assistant professor of religion, says most of the campus ministry is aware of the "hang loose" approach of students, and have shifted to person-to-person, issue-oriented services.
The building is no longer the focal point, says Jerry Catt, campus minister at the Baptist Center. The focus is people and issues, he says.
"We are involved in a total concept of campus ministry." Catt cays, referring to his participation in the Nov. 15 Moratorium in Washington, D.C. "The church and the University are agents for social change."
It used to be that the church often had to lead students into issues, says Otto Zing. UCCF campus minister. Now it is a case of going where the issues are, he says. "The students are already into it. The ministry helps them reflect on what is going on."
Programming is not determined by the ministry, but by people involved in the community. Zing says. Its task is to go into the things operating in persons' minds. This involvement can be seen in such programs as last year's seminars on White and Institutional Racism sponsored by the University Christian Movement, the Eros Urban Plunge
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(interaction of people in the midst of an urban environment), and the series last fall on Student Dissent.
Although students often are "turned off" by the institutional church, Zing says, many of their ideals reflect the teachings of the church in which they were raised.
Father Arnold Tkacik, associate professor of religion, says the campus ministry is trying to bring about a change in worship to adapt to students' needs.
This semester for the first time, worship mass is being conducted in Danforth Chapel to make the worship service more available to students, he says. Mass has been structurely changed to include shared response to scripture readings and group participation aimed at current situations.
KU's campus ministry has made extensive changes toward an ecumenical attitude, says Tom Moore, executive director of the KU-Y. Moore recalls that when he came to KU in 1960 the ministry could be characterized as a "fragile fellowship." Any cooperative efforts were merely in terms of jointly sponsored buses for Sunday worship services, he says.
One of the first ecumenical actions of the ministry was hospital visitations by ministers. Patients were visited daily by designated ministers who rotated schedules, which tended to strengthen trust between denominations, Moore recalls.
Today campus ministry has become more specialized into a team approach, says Moore. A division of labor between denominations encourages each minister to develop a particular interest or concern. The work of one minister is in behalf of all denominations, he added.
Students are not so much interested in the practice of the churches, says Shelton, but in pursuing moral issues in a situation in which someone is not trying to convert them.
The ministry, most ministers agree, is trying to relate to the total University as a community. They say a lot of people would like to see this style adopted by the church. And as one minister says, "What's happening on campus today indicates what will happen in the church in the future."
Missouri is the only state in the United States that has two towns officially named Pumpkin Center.
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